The Journey
by Sara1975
Summary: Naruto and Sasuke team up with Maia, a mysterious girl from the Mountain village in order to reclaim ancient scrolls that belong to Konoha.
1. Chapter 1

Sasuke had been back for two years now, yet Naruto could not stop his nightly excursion to see if his friend slept soundly in his room. Far enough away not to be detected, yet close enough to see clearly with the help of binoculars, he saw Sasuke meditating on the contents of some ridiculously long scroll. He yawned, satisfied, and headed towards his own apartment; a few blocks from the one he'd just seen. As he turned the key to his unit,  
he mused upon what a pointless effort it was to lock your door in a city filled with shinobi, but closed the door behind him and locked it anyway.  
A dark silhouette stood by his bed, one that he immediately recognized as Shikamaru.

"Can't you just knock like normal people?" Naruto was pissed and ready to sleep.

"You've got about two hours sleeping time before your next mission. You would've had about 5 if you weren't out spying on comrades." Shikamaru unfolded a scroll and rolled his eyes at the highly insulted and highly defensive person before him.

"What?! I wasn't- man screw you." And with a great show of pouting and arm folding, he sat down and waited for the details.

"You, Sasuke, and Sakura's replacement are going to retreive three items that were stolen from Konoha over 200 years ago," he began, quite eager to end this meeting.

Naruto winced. Sakura had left Konoha to live in the Sand Village earlier that year without a word of explanation.

"Hey! Are you even listening to me you moron?" Shikamaru grabbed his head with his kagemane and forced Naruto to look straight at him. "One more time. You will leave for the Northern Mountain Kingdom at dawn tomorrow. You're looking for three scrolls-"

"Sounds like a D-rank mission that you should give to someone else." He smiled, pleased at the exasperated sigh that his actions produced.

Shikamaru tightened his shadow around Naruto's neck and continued. "Whoever sent this information to Konoha sent it to every other hidden village, so it has become S-rank because you are more than sure to meet enemies along the way."

He choked on laughter as tears streamed down his cheeks at Shikamaru's efforts. "So you're taking the bait," he coughed, "and sending us into an obvious trap to get this shit! Whoever informed the nations is just waiting for the dirty work to be done, and then he'll make his move." He paused and said, "I'll do it!"

"Tsunade is more interested in who wants the scrolls than whether or not you retrieve them. Here is the paperwork and all the information we have on the scrolls. Study it. Sasuke also has a copy...but you knew that already didn't you?" he said with a knowing grin and then he was gone.

"Wait! Who's the new girl?? Who is she?" he called out, but Shikamaru was gone. 


	2. Chapter 2

Sasuke let himself in through the window of Naruto's apartment and promptly kicked the shit out of his dearest friend. "Wake up moron, it's time!" he said with a half smile.

Naruto lunged towards Sasuke and they proceeded to beat the hell out of each other until Naruto ended it proudly with his knee lodged into Sasuke's back and one arm holding both of Sasuke's. "I was only pretending to be asleep! You owe me 12 bowls of ramen!" he said laughing as they both got up.

"We're already late. Maia is waiting by the gates..." he said, knowing Naruto hadn't even begun to study for the mission.

"Who's Maia?"

"Sakura's replacement."

"How do you know? Why does everyone tell you everything? I've gotta be prepared for missions too...damn-" but the tirade was cut short by the condescending Sasuke.

"All the information is in that unopened scroll by your bed, genius," he said in that annoying monotone, I know everything voice.

"Oh," he replied, trying desperately to think of something smart to say..."I don't need to study if I can just ask you, so just tell me on the way to the gates," he said, really hoping that Sasuke wouldn't be difficult. Like that was really going to make him read a damn book anyway.

Sasuke repressed the urge to laugh when he really thought he ought to make Naruto pay for his laziness. But of course, that would take too much energy,  
and Naruto really did retain more when he listened to Sasuke. "Maia was born in the mountain village. She had some kind of disability and her parents left her in the wilderness to die. Apparently, that's a common practice in the North. However, a Konoha undercover spy took pity on her, and saw the potential in having a mountain born ninja, loyal to Konoha."

"Shit," he said, teeth clinched in anger, "I already can't stand the Northern kingdom. What kind of disability does she have? Is she really a ninja?"

"The spy that raised her is dead, and there is no record of her disability. As far as any of us can tell, she's normal. Neji and I both studied her with our power, and we were unable to detect anything abnormal."

"That's weird," he said, and a rare look of deep thought captured his features. "How am I going to find out what's wrong with her," he said to himself.

"It will take three months for us to travel to the Northern kingdom on foot. While we travel, it's her job to teach us the language, the culture,  
and the geography."

He looked at Sasuke in pure disbelief. "Why pick me of all people to go on this mission? Sure you'll be acting like you were born and raised in that god-forsaken place within a month, but I don't have a Sharingan to copy her every move. We may as well announce to their village "A SPY FROM KONOHA IS HERE!" and wait for them to kill us!"

Sasuke smiled. He didn't think Naruto would ever understand his own capacity for growth. "It won't be a problem. You're going to to use your kage bunshin jutsu the same way you used it to create your own jutsu."

The two friends reached the gate, and were greeted with a silent nod from the Kunoichi. Her arms, legs, and most of her face were wrapped in cloth bandages, and her clothing consisted of brown tattered, dingy pants with an equally worn and unmatching army green t-shirt. Her long hair looked like it had been pulled up haphazardly about a month ago, and hadn't been touched since. She had two short swords that she carried on her back, and a purple napsack tied around her waist. She certainly didn't look like a civilized resident of any village, and that get up would attract the attention of anyone. Her eyes were vacant and she seemed to stare through both Naruto and Sasuke.

"Let's go," she said, and she walked ahead of them. Naruto and Sasuke looked at each other briefly, and followed. Not looking back she began her lessons of the mountain kingdom. "The language and grammar are quite simple. Here is a list of a thousand words. Study them, and we'll begin pronunciation tomorrow." She tossed two small notepads behind to them, and that was all that she said for the rest of the day.

The month was filled with lessons on dance, culture, language, and Naruto exhausting his chakra to keep up with Sasuke's learning pace. Maia was more closed off than Sasuke had been as child, and they knew nothing more about her than what they had known from the beginning. The two friends would talk about her, with Naruto doing most of the talking, and Sasuke pretending not to be intersted.

One evening, while they were practicing traditional dancing, Naruto was feeling brave enough to ask Maia to be his partner. Sasuke had adamently refused,  
and he just wasn't able to pick it up on his own. He walked past the campfire taking deep breaths, and twirling his thumbs like an academy student.

"Umm, Maia...umm, well, could you umm give me some...I mean..." Naruto stammered uncomfortably.

"You want me to dance with you?" she asked blandly.

"Yeah," he said, looking down at his feet.

She stood up and turned her back to him. "Copy my every move," she commanded. And slowly she moved from right to left, dancing the part of a man,  
but doing it much more gracefully than Naruto or Sasuke. She stepped to a rhythym only she could hear, and Naruto struggled to imitate her perfection. "Do you think you can remember that?" she asked sharply.

"Uh, yeah."

"Alright, now do the same thing, only I'll dance the lady's part."

"Could you hum something...so that I can follow along a little easier?"

Maia stopped and looked at him, maybe trying to decide whether or not he was trying to make a fool of her. "Okay."

And so the disaster began. Naruto turned left instead of right, promptly tripping over Maia's feet and falling in the fire. Uncontrollable laughter erupted from Maia and Sasuke. "Oh, I hope you do that in front of the daimyo!," Maia she said in this uncommon spell of mirth.

"It's good to see you smile," Naruto said brightly, "I think it's the first time I've seen your teeth."

She looked at him with her vacant eyes, and then slowly turned her head towards the fire. "Speak to me in the mountain tongue or I won't answer you from here on out."

Naruto sighed and got ready for bed. "You don't speak to us anyway," he thought as he drifted off to sleep. 


	3. Chapter 3

Tonight, Maia was finally going to teach them the Mountain clan's way of the sword, and Naruto simply would not stop badgering her.

"Are we going to buy swords today? Are we? I wonder what kind I'm gonna get..I wonder if I'll be good enough to kick your ass on the first try Sasuke," said Naruto with a hyperactive grin.

"I already have your swords," Maya said. She pulled out two scrolls and carefully unfolded them. Drawing blood from both hands, she pressed down on both scrolls and yelled,"Kuchiyose no jutsu!" Two identical sets of swords revealed themselves.

"I thought that jutsu was used to call forth living creatures that only obey only the master that they have a contract with," Sasuke said in wonder.

"They are very much alive. And I've commanded them to serve you and Naruto," she said. She threw the weapons to them and drew her own.

Day by day they practiced every kata Maia knew, each day more boring than the next for Naruto who was itching to challenge Sasuke, but to afraid of Maia to disobey her. Sasuke strained his red eyes to keep up with her speed, and Naruto pushed himself to exhaustion, filling the forrest with replicas of himself.

It had been another month, two in all of full on torture for Naruto and Sasuke, though Sasuke was more inclined to keep his mouth shut.

"I think were ready," Maia began, "to see how much you two have learned. On the edge of these woods, there are throngs of rogue ninjas. The outlaws of every nation have fled to the safety of the mountains for centuries, forming a natural, yet dangerous buffer between my people and the rest of the world. We'll go straight through their territory instead of around it. Use only your swords, or I'll kill you myself."

"I'd like to see you try," Sasuke muttered under his breath, but before he could finish Maia's swords were at his throat and gut. Naruto waited to see the end result of this fight, but was disappointed when they were discovered by the raging mob of ninja in the valley below them.

"INTRUDERS!!" a loud voice boomed from the valley below them. Kunai and arrows rained towards them from every direction and so the fight began.

From the edge of the woods, they could see a dingy village, marked with a hodgepodge of symbols from every country in the known world. Countless warriors spilled out of the area and ran towards the three. Maia jumped into the medley, cutting her way through the crowd. "See you on the other side boys!" she said. 


End file.
